LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Elsie Janis in a Few of Her Characterizations— [Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
"Marky" Zinsheimer (Joseph Cawthorn) [4]
"Oh, that's Miss Farnum. She's old Mrs. Kilpatrick's companion" [28]
"I haven't had an orchid this season" [84]
"More flowers, and from a man I have never spoken to" [94]
"I refuse to let you go, Martha" [98]
"I'm sorry I'm so poor," sobbed Pinkie [102]
"And glad I am to be back in your hospitable house" [114]
"My boots have not arrived, I refuse to go on unless [162]
Martha Farnum (Elsie Janis) [168]
"This is infamous, infamous! I won't read another line" [188]
"She looked like a turnip and acted the part artistically" [194]
A STAR FOR A NIGHT
CHAPTER I
"ZINSHEIMER, OF NEW YORK"
Stick a pin in the map of southern Indiana, half an inch to the left of Lost River, and about six hours from the rest of the world, as time is used to measure railroad journeys, and you will find a speck called French Lick Springs. Hidden away in the hills, so remote from the centers of civilization that only wealthy inebriates and chronic invalids can afford to visit this out of the way, yet expensive, spot, French Lick has other attractions than the natural beauties of its scenery and the health-giving quality of its waters. For while the sick and the ailing may be tempted to the Springs in the hope of gaining health from the bad-smelling waters they drink, and dozens of florid-faced men invade the little town almost every day from the big and distant cities in order to "get washed out" after too much indulgence in alcoholic stimulants, there are others who go to the Springs simply for the excitement of a little whirl at the gaming tables, which rumor says abound there, but which a shrewd deputy sheriff invariably reports to the local grand jury, "Non est."